Hearing on Oil Profits and Subsidies: Inslee's Opening

The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming holds a hearing, "Drilling for Answers on Oil and Gas Prices, Profits, and Alternatives." Top-level executives from the five largest oil companies will discuss the current state of oil and gas prices, oil company profits, and the need for clean, renewable fuels to ease demand for oil and cut global warming pollution. The Select Committee will hear from the number two officers worldwide for the three United States-based oil companies and the presidents of U.S. operations for the foreign companies. ExxonMobil reported record profits of $40.6 billion in 2007, and the other top four oil companies like BP and Shell made billions more. These same companies are fighting to keep $18 billion in tax breaks that Congress is attempting to shift towards renewable energy incentives for wind, solar, biomass and other climate-friendly sources. The House recently passed the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008, but President Bush and the top oil companies are fighting to defeat the measure in the Senate. Rep. Jay Inslee gives opening remarks.

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News & Politics

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• Energy
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• Inslee

[ExxonExxoff]

OIL+GREED=EXXON, and all the rest of 'em

[AlyBlack]

Geuss what Aunt Nancy, I don't need you telling me how to run my life. I'm an educated active adult and I see where you want to take my country - NO THANK YOU.

Hows that private jet we pay for that you waste all that jet fuel on every week to go see your family that won't live with you in DC? Guess they need a break from your shrill voice dictating to them too.

SAY NO to:

Socialized medicine

Big Gov't

High taxes

I'm keeping my thermostat at 72 for as long as I can pay my bill.

[HelmutHedd]

Modern day McCarthyism except the Senators are going after the 'oil profiteers' - these socialist political idiots are raping the citizen more than any oil company ever could.

[padude64]

Bush is a dickhead!

[jhr384]

Yeah capitalism is the problem. How much do you think gas would cost if oil companies didn't pay such a ridiculous amount of taxes. Considering the governments share of oil companies' combined revenues are larger than all of the oil industry's profits makes me think our elected government is screwing us not the oil companies.

[josh6132003]

If our econemy goes under what will we do then? What we really need is true patriots who own oil companys. Not greedy bastards. These are the same companys that bought the rights to automotive nmh batterys and then stopped making them even though they are proven to work and be safe. We need Americans to bite the bullet and not make so much freaking money. Do they realy need that new bently sitting in their driveway. I mean its ok to have one, but a new one every year? Its excessive.

[josh6132003]

Of course you would say that. You work for the oil company. The people who are raking in the doe are not working extremely hard for it. Your full of it. The people making all of the money and buying back stock from the public are in these 10000 dollar suits. The only thing they work hard at is hiring people like you to convince us that a product that is vital to our econemy should be as expensive as it is and there is nothing they can do about it.

[wellssr]

Finally, I am glad that we can agree that capitalism is the best economic policy for our country, but again I diverge in terms of prices Americans can/will pay. We see Europeans pay excessive prices for gas, which leads me to believe Americans can probably withstand $5/gallon. It may hurt those at the lower ends of the income scale, but as mentioned before cheap gas is not a God given right and those people who can't afford will have to change their life-styles.

[wellssr]

Fourthly, I wonder if you are a true Republican if you fail to understand the market's determination of an appropriate price for the risk oil companies take (we don't set that price, the markets do). As I mentioned before if there were obscene profits in oil (that far outweighed the risks) than why don't we have more entrants, large companies such as GE? Simple: because it's not like oil companies have a mint in which they print money. They work extremely hard for it.

[wellssr]

Let's straighten things out: First, a collective monopoly would be an oligopoly. Secondly, the economic definition of a monopoly or oligopoly includes the power of the firm(s) to set prices. Clearly this is not the case as we have competition among existing firms and an enormous amount of foreign firms ready to enter the U.S. market if oligopolistic profits did exist. Thirdly, the attacks upon those who profit from Big Oil are ridiculous, I've already let you in on the secret, buy their stock.